RES JUDICATÆ

IN UNIFORM BINDING

RES JUDICATÆ

PAPERS AND ESSAYS

BY

AUGUSTINE BIRRELL

AUTHOR OF 'OBITER DICTA,' ETC.

'It need hardly be added that such sentences do notany more than the records of the superior courts concludeas to matters which may or may not have been controverted.'—SeeBlackham's Case I. Salkeld 290

NEW YORK

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

1892

COPYRIGHT, 1892, BY

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS.

[Pg v]

PREFACE

The first two essays in this volumewere composed as lectures, and are nowprinted for the first time; the others haveendured that indignity before. The paperson 'The Letters of Charles Lamb'and 'Authors in Court' originally appearedin Macmillan's Magazine; and the shortessays entitled 'William Cowper' and'George Borrow' in the Reflector, a livelysheet which owed its existence to and derivedits inspiration from the energy andgenius of the late Mr. J. K. Stephen, whosetoo early death has not only eclipsed thegaiety of many gatherings, but has robbedthe country of the service of a noble andtruth-loving man.[Pg vi]

The other papers appeared either inScribner's Magazine or in the columns ofthe Speaker newspaper.

Although, by the kindness of my presentpublishers, I have always been practicallya 'protected article' in the States, Icannot help expressing my pleasure infinding myself in the enjoyment of thesame modest rights as an author in thenew home of my people as in the old.

A. B.

Lincoln's Inn, London.
[Pg vii]

CONTENTS